The present invention relates to devices which protect parts of the body from harm, and in particular, to devices for protecting an arm from fire, punctures, and infectious agents.
Persons involved in fire fighting, law enforcement, and emergency medical services require protection from a variety of hazards. These hazards include infectious agents, fire, chemicals, and stab or puncture wounds. However, current uniforms and attire generally provide little or no protection to the arms, particularly when they comprise a short-sleeved shirt.
Prior art devices provide some arm protection. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,062 (Tseng) discloses an arm and hand protective sleeve that helps prevent automotive drivers from contracting skin damage or skin diseases from ultraviolet solar radiation while driving. U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,525 (Ketola) discloses a bandage for protecting an elbow without providing any sliding contact between the bandage and the elbow. U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,669 (Wilke) discloses a protective sheeth that may be slid over a patient""s arm or leg for holding a peripherally inserted central catheter in place.
These prior art devices have a number of disadvantages. None of the devices appears to provide substantial protection against fire, punctures, or infectious agents. The device disclosed by Ketola does not extend fully from the upper arm to the lower arm. All of these devices must be removed from the arm for storage. None of these devices is designed to securely fasten to the clothes of the wearer, which may make their use inconvenient and reduce the speed with which they can be deployed. There is accordingly a need for an arm protection device which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
The present invention is directed to a device for protecting the arm of a user wearing a shirt. The device comprises a sleeve made of a protective fabric and a tubular fabric pouch. The sleeve can be extended from a retracted position to an extended position. The sleeve is shaped and sized to envelop a user""s lower arm when the sleeve is in its extended position. The lower end of the sleeve has a hand opening sized to allow the user""s hand to extend therethrough.
The pouch is sized to extend around the user""s upper arm, and shaped to provide a circumferentially extending storage cavity for storing the protective sleeve. The pouch includes closure means for releasably closing the storage cavity when the sleeve is stored inside in the retracted position, and attachment means for attaching the pouch to an upper arm portion of the user""s shirt. The upper end of the sleeve is affixed to an inner portion of the pouch.
The tubular fabric pouch may consist of an inner sleeve portion and an outer sleeve portion. The outer sleeve portion may be folded over the inner sleeve portion to form a folded position, which defines the storage cavity. The outer sleeve portion may be attached to the inner sleeve portion along a circumferential line of attachment. The inner sleeve portion and outer sleeve portion of the pouch have inside surfaces facing each other in the folded position. The outer sleeve portion may be folded inside out to form an unfolded position exposing the inside surfaces of the outer sleeve portion and the inner sleeve portion to facilitate replacing the sleeve in the retracted position after deployment.
The cavity closure means may comprise a plurality of circumferentially spaced pairs of snaps located adjacent the lower circumferential edges of the sleeve portions of the pouch. The lower end of the protective sleeve may comprise a cuff having adjusting means for adjusting the size of the hand opening.
The sleeve may comprise a fastening means to adjustably and securely fasten the lower end of the sleeve around the user""s wrist. The sleeve may have a tapered lower end to better fit the lower arm. The sleeve may be provided with a slit in the lower arm portion with a slit closure means for releasably closing the slit.